• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Easy way to improve range?

johnspack

Here For Good!
Joined
Oct 6, 2007
Messages
5,980 (0.99/day)
Location
Nelson B.C. Canada
System Name System2 Blacknet , System1 Blacknet2
Processor System2 Threadripper 1920x, System1 2699 v3
Motherboard System2 Asrock Fatality x399 Professional Gaming, System1 Asus X99-A
Cooling System2 Noctua NH-U14 TR4-SP3 Dual 140mm fans, System1 AIO
Memory System2 64GBS DDR4 3000, System1 32gbs DDR4 2400
Video Card(s) System2 GTX 980Ti System1 GTX 970
Storage System2 4x SSDs + NVme= 2.250TB 2xStorage Drives=8TB System1 3x SSDs=2TB
Display(s) 2x 24" 1080 displays
Case System2 Some Nzxt case with soundproofing...
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar U7 MKII
Power Supply System2 EVGA 750 Watt, System1 XFX XTR 750 Watt
Mouse Logitech G900 Chaos Spectrum
Keyboard Ducky
Software Manjaro, Windows 10, Kubuntu 23.10
Benchmark Scores It's linux baby!
I've been supplying wireless internet to a friend in the same building as me. He usually gets 2-3 bars, 2 mostly, but has no problem with the internet. Recently they started renovating the building, and now metal objects and/or electric panels have increased interference to the point he can barely load a web page and is at like 1 bar mostly. My cheapest route would be to replace the dinky 3dbi antennas of my asus rt-n16 with 8 dbi ones. 9dbi vs 24dbi seems like it would give me the extra punch needed? Or will this take a more costly route?
 

brandonwh64

Addicted to Bacon and StarCrunches!!!
Joined
Sep 6, 2009
Messages
19,542 (3.67/day)
Yea those may help, Also putting an outside repeater would work if you want to spend the money.
 

johnspack

Here For Good!
Joined
Oct 6, 2007
Messages
5,980 (0.99/day)
Location
Nelson B.C. Canada
System Name System2 Blacknet , System1 Blacknet2
Processor System2 Threadripper 1920x, System1 2699 v3
Motherboard System2 Asrock Fatality x399 Professional Gaming, System1 Asus X99-A
Cooling System2 Noctua NH-U14 TR4-SP3 Dual 140mm fans, System1 AIO
Memory System2 64GBS DDR4 3000, System1 32gbs DDR4 2400
Video Card(s) System2 GTX 980Ti System1 GTX 970
Storage System2 4x SSDs + NVme= 2.250TB 2xStorage Drives=8TB System1 3x SSDs=2TB
Display(s) 2x 24" 1080 displays
Case System2 Some Nzxt case with soundproofing...
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar U7 MKII
Power Supply System2 EVGA 750 Watt, System1 XFX XTR 750 Watt
Mouse Logitech G900 Chaos Spectrum
Keyboard Ducky
Software Manjaro, Windows 10, Kubuntu 23.10
Benchmark Scores It's linux baby!
That's what I'm afraid of, having to spend 80+ on shipping and taxes vs 36 for the antennas. So should I just get the repeater instead?
In other words, would I need both? Also, running tomato on the router, can increase output...
 
Last edited:

95Viper

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 12, 2008
Messages
12,645 (2.24/day)
Repeaters, powerline, and such, would be the way to go for increased coverage; however, cost is a factor.
An antenna change is dependent on your routers location and the friends location.
An Omni directional antenna might give you a slight gain at the friend's location; but, I doubt it will solve the problem to your satisfaction.
Also, in your selection of antennae... make sure the antennae are tuned for your desired frequencies.
Location is a big factor in planning this... what to put where.

If you have an android phone/tablet or windows laptop/tablet (something portable in either case); get some signal/mapping software and test using some homebrew directional antennae.

Try something like:
NetSpot - they have a limited free version
HeatMapper
Or, test and find one that you prefer.

What is the best WiFi antenna for me?
Fix Your Wi-Fi: Free Tweaks and Major Overhauls

And, google homebrew homemade wifi antenna... you find a whole bunch. Look for directional ones(with directional antennae you can have a narrow or wide beam of you choosing).

Most firmware, in most routers, let you adjust the output to 100%.
Other versions of the firmware may allow you to get a little more; if so, you may want to apply additional cooling on the finals (output transistors).

Make sure you on the clearest channels you can use.
 
Joined
May 13, 2010
Messages
5,632 (1.11/day)
System Name RemixedBeast-NX
Processor Intel Xeon E5-2690 @ 2.9Ghz (8C/16T)
Motherboard Dell Inc. 08HPGT (CPU 1)
Cooling Dell Standard
Memory 24GB ECC
Video Card(s) Gigabyte Nvidia RTX2060 6GB
Storage 2TB Samsung 860 EVO SSD//2TB WD Black HDD
Display(s) Samsung SyncMaster P2350 23in @ 1920x1080 + Dell E2013H 20 in @1600x900
Case Dell Precision T3600 Chassis
Audio Device(s) Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 80 // Fiio E7 Amp/DAC
Power Supply 630w Dell T3600 PSU
Mouse Logitech G700s/G502
Keyboard Logitech K740
Software Linux Mint 20
Benchmark Scores Network: APs: Cisco Meraki MR32, Ubiquiti Unifi AP-AC-LR and Lite Router/Sw:Meraki MX64 MS220-8P
For windows based systems I recommend Amped Wifi Analytics for both android and PC.

I also recommend that brand's wifi stuff. Very awesome coverage. I have two of their routers and they both are really awesome.
Review here: http://remixedcat.blogspot.com/2013/09/amped-wireless-rta15-and-aca1-review.html

if worst comes to worst and you're too broke then get some justin beiber duct tape and pringles cans.
 

johnspack

Here For Good!
Joined
Oct 6, 2007
Messages
5,980 (0.99/day)
Location
Nelson B.C. Canada
System Name System2 Blacknet , System1 Blacknet2
Processor System2 Threadripper 1920x, System1 2699 v3
Motherboard System2 Asrock Fatality x399 Professional Gaming, System1 Asus X99-A
Cooling System2 Noctua NH-U14 TR4-SP3 Dual 140mm fans, System1 AIO
Memory System2 64GBS DDR4 3000, System1 32gbs DDR4 2400
Video Card(s) System2 GTX 980Ti System1 GTX 970
Storage System2 4x SSDs + NVme= 2.250TB 2xStorage Drives=8TB System1 3x SSDs=2TB
Display(s) 2x 24" 1080 displays
Case System2 Some Nzxt case with soundproofing...
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar U7 MKII
Power Supply System2 EVGA 750 Watt, System1 XFX XTR 750 Watt
Mouse Logitech G900 Chaos Spectrum
Keyboard Ducky
Software Manjaro, Windows 10, Kubuntu 23.10
Benchmark Scores It's linux baby!
Actually, the Amped Wifi Analytics for android is just as good. It's one of the apps I used on my Galaxy tablet to diagnose his connection issues.
 
Joined
May 13, 2010
Messages
5,632 (1.11/day)
System Name RemixedBeast-NX
Processor Intel Xeon E5-2690 @ 2.9Ghz (8C/16T)
Motherboard Dell Inc. 08HPGT (CPU 1)
Cooling Dell Standard
Memory 24GB ECC
Video Card(s) Gigabyte Nvidia RTX2060 6GB
Storage 2TB Samsung 860 EVO SSD//2TB WD Black HDD
Display(s) Samsung SyncMaster P2350 23in @ 1920x1080 + Dell E2013H 20 in @1600x900
Case Dell Precision T3600 Chassis
Audio Device(s) Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 80 // Fiio E7 Amp/DAC
Power Supply 630w Dell T3600 PSU
Mouse Logitech G700s/G502
Keyboard Logitech K740
Software Linux Mint 20
Benchmark Scores Network: APs: Cisco Meraki MR32, Ubiquiti Unifi AP-AC-LR and Lite Router/Sw:Meraki MX64 MS220-8P
Cool! I like it as well.
 

Wikoontz

New Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2014
Messages
18 (0.00/day)
Location
Columbia, SC
Do you think he might be able to find an old wireless router that someone has in their attic storage that you could use as a repeater? I know my husband hates throwing things away so we have like two upstairs in our attic that I wouldn't use as a primary router but could be passable as just repeaters.
 

johnspack

Here For Good!
Joined
Oct 6, 2007
Messages
5,980 (0.99/day)
Location
Nelson B.C. Canada
System Name System2 Blacknet , System1 Blacknet2
Processor System2 Threadripper 1920x, System1 2699 v3
Motherboard System2 Asrock Fatality x399 Professional Gaming, System1 Asus X99-A
Cooling System2 Noctua NH-U14 TR4-SP3 Dual 140mm fans, System1 AIO
Memory System2 64GBS DDR4 3000, System1 32gbs DDR4 2400
Video Card(s) System2 GTX 980Ti System1 GTX 970
Storage System2 4x SSDs + NVme= 2.250TB 2xStorage Drives=8TB System1 3x SSDs=2TB
Display(s) 2x 24" 1080 displays
Case System2 Some Nzxt case with soundproofing...
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar U7 MKII
Power Supply System2 EVGA 750 Watt, System1 XFX XTR 750 Watt
Mouse Logitech G900 Chaos Spectrum
Keyboard Ducky
Software Manjaro, Windows 10, Kubuntu 23.10
Benchmark Scores It's linux baby!
He watches a lot of video on youtube ect, I would really like to extend n band.....
 

johnspack

Here For Good!
Joined
Oct 6, 2007
Messages
5,980 (0.99/day)
Location
Nelson B.C. Canada
System Name System2 Blacknet , System1 Blacknet2
Processor System2 Threadripper 1920x, System1 2699 v3
Motherboard System2 Asrock Fatality x399 Professional Gaming, System1 Asus X99-A
Cooling System2 Noctua NH-U14 TR4-SP3 Dual 140mm fans, System1 AIO
Memory System2 64GBS DDR4 3000, System1 32gbs DDR4 2400
Video Card(s) System2 GTX 980Ti System1 GTX 970
Storage System2 4x SSDs + NVme= 2.250TB 2xStorage Drives=8TB System1 3x SSDs=2TB
Display(s) 2x 24" 1080 displays
Case System2 Some Nzxt case with soundproofing...
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar U7 MKII
Power Supply System2 EVGA 750 Watt, System1 XFX XTR 750 Watt
Mouse Logitech G900 Chaos Spectrum
Keyboard Ducky
Software Manjaro, Windows 10, Kubuntu 23.10
Benchmark Scores It's linux baby!
Well, nice perk to all this, found out my router could handle a 532mhz clock speed. The way I have it mounted, plenty of air, it's running cool. Internet is very fast!
Running EasyTomato 0.78..... haven't even upgraded to 0.80 yet!
 

johnspack

Here For Good!
Joined
Oct 6, 2007
Messages
5,980 (0.99/day)
Location
Nelson B.C. Canada
System Name System2 Blacknet , System1 Blacknet2
Processor System2 Threadripper 1920x, System1 2699 v3
Motherboard System2 Asrock Fatality x399 Professional Gaming, System1 Asus X99-A
Cooling System2 Noctua NH-U14 TR4-SP3 Dual 140mm fans, System1 AIO
Memory System2 64GBS DDR4 3000, System1 32gbs DDR4 2400
Video Card(s) System2 GTX 980Ti System1 GTX 970
Storage System2 4x SSDs + NVme= 2.250TB 2xStorage Drives=8TB System1 3x SSDs=2TB
Display(s) 2x 24" 1080 displays
Case System2 Some Nzxt case with soundproofing...
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar U7 MKII
Power Supply System2 EVGA 750 Watt, System1 XFX XTR 750 Watt
Mouse Logitech G900 Chaos Spectrum
Keyboard Ducky
Software Manjaro, Windows 10, Kubuntu 23.10
Benchmark Scores It's linux baby!
Got bored while waiting for antennas to come... decided on some ocing action on my router....


 

johnspack

Here For Good!
Joined
Oct 6, 2007
Messages
5,980 (0.99/day)
Location
Nelson B.C. Canada
System Name System2 Blacknet , System1 Blacknet2
Processor System2 Threadripper 1920x, System1 2699 v3
Motherboard System2 Asrock Fatality x399 Professional Gaming, System1 Asus X99-A
Cooling System2 Noctua NH-U14 TR4-SP3 Dual 140mm fans, System1 AIO
Memory System2 64GBS DDR4 3000, System1 32gbs DDR4 2400
Video Card(s) System2 GTX 980Ti System1 GTX 970
Storage System2 4x SSDs + NVme= 2.250TB 2xStorage Drives=8TB System1 3x SSDs=2TB
Display(s) 2x 24" 1080 displays
Case System2 Some Nzxt case with soundproofing...
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar U7 MKII
Power Supply System2 EVGA 750 Watt, System1 XFX XTR 750 Watt
Mouse Logitech G900 Chaos Spectrum
Keyboard Ducky
Software Manjaro, Windows 10, Kubuntu 23.10
Benchmark Scores It's linux baby!
It did increase my signal strength yes, but I notice more when using torrents ect, I have higher bandwidth. I want the new quad core gen routers now.....
 
Top